Saka stars as England thrash North Macedonia to maintain perfect start

Chris Wilson

Bukayo Saka scored his sensational second goal just after half-time to put England 4-0 upAFP

England’s phenomenal record in major tournament qualification games under Gareth Southgate stretched to 26 wins from 31 games with a convincing 7-0 European Championship qualifier victory over North Macedonia.

If those fans attending England’s first game at Old Trafford since 2007 were after some early entertainment, then they would be sorely mistaken. It took almost until the half-hour mark for England to really find their groove, but when they did, their quality shone through. A sweeping Three Lions move culminated with Luke Shaw getting to the byline and cutting the ball back for the effervescent Harry Kane, who made no mistake in firing England ahead.

Southgate’s side were purring from then on and swiftly doubled their advantage when Bukayo Saka was afforded too much space in the area, allowing the Arsenal man to rifle an effort high into the roof of the net. England were far from done and netted a third before half-time as Marcus Rashford became the first Manchester United player to score for the Three Lions at Old Trafford since David Beckham against Sweden in November 2001.

Bukayo Saka fires home to make it 2-0 before the breakAFP

England’s dominance didn’t slow down after the break, adding a fourth inside two minutes of the restart. It came in fine fashion too, with Trent Alexander-Arnold the architect as his measured ball found Saka in behind, who took one touch to pluck the ball out the sky and a second to thunder it into the top corner. Although the game was already wrapped up, Saka was keen to secure a first international hat-trick and it didn’t take him long to do just that when Kane’s inch-perfect ball freed the Arsenal man to add his third of the night.

Despite making a raft of changes, England were showing no signs of letting up and added a sixth of the night in simple fashion when North Macedonia failed to clear Jack Grealish’s delivery and Kalvin Phillips had the simplest task of tapping home his first England goal. As if the Three Lions needed any encouragement, Egzon Bejtulai gave them just that when he wrestled John Stones to the ground in the area. Kane stepped up from the spot and duly converted England’s seventh to make the scoreline that little bit more humiliating for North Macedonia.

Kalvin Phillips scores England's sixth goal of the nightAFP

Losing on English soil isn’t a feeling North Macedonia are all that accustomed to, with this interestingly their first away loss against England after two head-to-head draws prior. As for Southgate’s side, it’s been the perfect start to their qualification campaign, with four wins from four games putting them in pole position to top Group C.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Bukayo Saka (England)